NO, NOT THE OIL! #128 (1/4)
R Kym Horsell
Reserch Senter(*)
OIL THE NEWS THAT FITS MY VIEWS #128
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In the Run-Up to World War III, Reliably Reporting the News Relevant
to Extreme Right-Wing Democratic Socialists Everywhere
(validated for RiteThink(tm) by the Office of Our Man in Can-berra).
Our Home Page: <http://www.chickenhead.com/loserscopes/>
The Undeniable Evidence: <http://www.evil-doers.org/evidence>
Even More Uneniable Evidence: <http://www.abc.net.au/cnnnn/profiteering/terrorthon/>
US Centcom News Releases: <http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/release_list.asp>
Iraqi Body Count: <http://www.iraqbodycount.net/> [7,918+ as at 01 Dec 2003].
UN Mailing List: <http://www.kymhorsell.com/UN/>
Some Of The News, Some Of The Time: <http://www.chaser.com.au/default.asp?check=No>
This Stuff Blogged: <http://kymhorsell.blogspot.com/>
Also Kindly Archived: <http://www.kymhorsell.com/OIL/ >
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Selecting latest news stories and other data for you...
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Without a tougher and more comprehensive resolution -- a resolution
which obligates states to take mandated measures -- the role played by
the UN in this important battle risks becoming marginalised.
-- UN committee report, 01 Dec 2003.
The Committee on Sanction on al-Qaeda, the Taliban and their
associates says Iraq has become a fertile ground for al-Qaeda
supporters, while anti-terror responses have been weak.
You don't save the steel industry by caving into the blackmail from
Europe half way through what you promised.
-- Pres United Steelworkers of America, Leo W Gerard, 02 Dec 2003.
While US steel upped the pressure on protective tariffs, the Bush
Admin found there were more votes in states to be affected by
punitive tariffs, following the WTO ruling.
The US wisely used the 21 months... we provided... to restructure [the
steel industry].
-- Whitehouse mouth Scott McClellan, 04 Dec 2005.
The Bush Admin is putting a positive spin on the steel tariff back-down.
This hiccough we've had will cause us to have to do a lot of
reassuring with the govt.
-- New Boeing CEO Harry Stonecipher, 03 Dec 2005.
Hiccough. The US govt is to scrutinise the process Boeing used to
gain a Pentagon contract after the CEO quit.
The [negative] economic impacts... we believe... are quite small.
-- Fed Env Min David Kemp, 02 Dec 2003.
Marine Park. AUS has announced the largest marine park in the
world. While the fishing industry says the plan will cut fishing
by $10 mn pa and prices will go up, analysts say about 70% of
Australia's eating fish are imported anyway.
Enough it enough.
-- Dep PM John Anderson, 03 Dec 2003.
The AUS govt is begging the central bank NOT to increase interest
rates further. But analysts are now saying another 50 basis pts
look likely before next y's federal election.
I think inflation is going to decline over the course of 2004, 2005.
-- Fed Treas Peter Costello, 04 Dec 2003.
The Fed govt continues to beg and cajole the Aussie C bank not to
increase rates just before the fed elections next y.
This is landmark education reform.
-- PM John Howard, 03 Dec 2003.
The Aussie govt has moved to a US-style user-pays higher ed system,
with around 1/3 of places going to full fee-paying students, and
unis allowed to hike fees 25%.
We believe that 100 years more of suicide bombings will not drive
Israel into the sea. And we believe that 100 years more of targeted
assassinations will never dry up the reservoir of young Palestinians
willing to give up their lives.
-- Fndr of the American Sufi Muslim Assoc, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, 02 Dec 2003.
Stolen thunder. US religious leaders are pushing Bush to move on
the "road map" as moderates back the informal "Geneva Accords".
There was an occurrence this morning [Wed] and we immediately filed a
report with the Australian Transport Safety Board.
-- Virgin Blue's head of strategy David Huttner, 03 Dec 2003.
Teething troubles. Controllers report a spate of incidents as a new
system kicked off this wk. Transp Min John Anderson said he had
faith in the US system because it worked well there.
But Mars will determine whether we succeed. We could land on a
rock. We could get a gust of wind.
-- NASA assoc admin Ed Weiler, 02 Dec 2003.
Prepared for the worst. NASA is reportedly prepared for the failure
of its ambitious Mars mission.
----------------------------------------
Wed, 03 Dec 2003.
OPEC may defer output cuts as economy buoys oil prices
Vienna. OPEC producers bolstered by an upbeat world economy gathered
yesterday for a meeting this wk that is expected to keep supply limits
steady as oil prices hold strong.
OPEC's hopes of extending a price boom into a 5th straight y have
brightened as economic growth accelerates in big oil importer the US
and emerging giant China.
Ahead of tomorrow's meeting, oil ministers from Iran, Kuwait the UAE
and Indonesia have said prices of more than $30/bbl for US crude are
high enough for OPEC to delay considering another round of cuts until
early next y.
"We would only hurt ourselves and our reputation by cutting with
prices so high," said a snr delegate, who is familiar with the
thinking of many OPEC members, including powerhouse Saudi Arabia.
Oil prices rose yesterday in nervous trading ahead of the meeting,
with the market growing fearful that the organisation could signal
tighter supply next y.
London Brent crude oil futures were up 55 c at $28.80/bbl, while NY
light crude futures were up 65 c at $30.61.
Cold weather forecasts in the US were seen supporting a market that is
getting nervous ahead of the meeting tomorrow.
Mins are expected to schedule another gathering for late Jan or early
Feb to decide on lower limits for the 2nd Q as fuel demand declines
following the N winter.
But traders remain wary of a repeat of the organisation's surprise
decision in Sep when it cut output by 900,000 barrels a day to limits
of 24.5 mn bpd to counter rising supply from Russia and Iraq.
US slide good news for AUD
Sydney. The downward slide of the USD continues unabated, sending
the euro and AUD to new highs overnight.
Global investors appear to have focused again on America's huge
current account and budget deficits.
The euro has been just shy of $US1.21.
And the AUD has peaked at 73.25 US c -- the strongest it has been
against the greenback since Oct 1997.
The local currency is also benefiting from rising commodity prices, as
well as expectations that official interest rates will be raised again
this morning.
The Reserve Bank board met yesterday, as stronger-than-expected
forecast retail trade and building approval figures provided yet more
evidence of surging activity in the AUS economy.
Today the Sep Q nat'l accounts are generally expected to show the
economy grew by 1.4% in the 1st 3 m of the FY.
At 7.00 am AEDT, the dollar was being quoted at 73.09 US c -- up 1/6th
of a c on yesterday's local close.
On Wall Street, share market investors have again tended to ignore
more hopeful signs on US economic recovery.
New data have shown a rise in car and truck sales in the US during Nov,
but the market is waiting to see employment figures at the end of the wk.
There is still around an hr to trade on the NYSE. At 7.00 am AEDT, the
DJIA was down 40 pts to 9,859.
High-tech shares on the Nasdaq market are also a little weaker, with
the index down 5 pts to 1,985.
The Brit share market has surrendered a sizeable portion of the
previous day's gains.
Barclays has led the banking sector lower and the market has been
disappointed by a downbeat trading update from Rentokil.
London's FT100 index has closed 31 pts lower at 4,379.
In AUS, yesterday, the market moved higher with the All Ords 16 points
higher to 3,197.
1/2 an hr before its close, the ten-y bond contract was down 1/2 a
point at 94.03, with the implied yield rising to 5.97%.
The gold price was at $US403.25/oz and W Texas crude oil has risen
to $US30.81/bbl.
AUD hits fresh 6-y high
Sydney. The AUD is sitting above 73 US c this morning after hitting a
new 6-y high overnight. Together with the euro, the local currency
has moved higher against an American greenback that has been
undermined by concerns about the big trade and budget deficits in the
US. The AUD peaked at 73.25 US c in NY trade. That is the strongest
it has been against the USD since Oct 1997. Stronger commodity prices
and expectations of another interest rate increase in AUS are also
supporting the currency.
Bush encounters steel lobbying in Pa.
Pittsburgh (AP). Facing a politically tough decision on steel
tariffs, Pres Bush came to the heart of steel country Tue and
encountered last-minute lobbying from high-profile backers of the
sanctions that have helped prop up the US industry for 20 m.
Bush travelled to "Steel City" to raise campaign cash at an event that
offered, for $2,000 apiece, a standing-only buffet lunch. The 2 1/2-hr
visit earned his re-election $850,000.
"We have done a lot for the people, but our work is only beginning,"
Bush told his audience, outlining his agenda for the anti-terror war,
the economy and energy exploration.
It was Bush's 23rd visit as president to Pennsylvania, a critical
state in his re-election strategy. "We're laying the foundation for
what is going to be a victory in Pennsylvania in 2004," he said.
Whitehouse advisers are urging Bush to abandon tariffs imposed last y
on imported steel, which were meant to give the troubled US industry 3
y to consolidate and regain a profitable footing.
Rep Scott McClellan said Bush had not yet made a decision but would
announce one "in due course."
Arriving at the fund-raiser, Bush was button-holed by Thomas J Usher,
who helped organise the event but also, as chairman and CEO of
industry leader US Steel Corp, is a strong advocate of the tariffs.
Usher urged Bush to "keep his commitment to the steel industry" and
keep the tariffs in place, US Steel rep John Armstrong said.
Bush responded that "it's a difficult and complex issue" on which he
has not yet ruled, Armstrong said.
Outside the downtown hotel, about 300 steelworkers and other protesters
bundled themselves against snow flurries and brisk winds, but out of
sight of the president's motorcade, to demonstrate against Bush's visit.
"You don't save the steel industry by caving into the blackmail from
Europe half way through what you promised," said Leo W Gerard, president
of the United Steelworkers of America, a constituency Bush has courted.
The decision presents Bush with potentially significant benefits and
costs to his re-election chances, regardless of which way he goes.
Keeping the tariffs would please the steel industry, which argues the
American market will again be flooded with low-priced foreign steel
without them. Those companies are dominant in states such as Pennsylvania,
West Virginia and Ohio. Although Bush lost Pennsylvania and won West
Virginia and Ohio, all are considered important to a winning electoral map.
However, that choice could trigger retaliatory tariffs from the
European Union, Japan, S Korea and China against US products made in
states like Florida and others also coveted by the Bush campaign.
Bush used his trip to do a little campaigning for Pennsylvania
Republican Sen Arlen Specter, up for re-election next y and facing a
bruising primary fight. Specter, who caught a ride with Bush on Air
Force One, got the classic candidate treatment -- an appearance at
Bush's side from the top of the jet's stairs.
Bush's popularity stable after Thanksgiving stunt
Washington. US Pres Bush's popularity has improved after his surprise
Thanksgiving dash to Iraq to have dinner with the troops. Amid
growing signs the US economy is improving, Bush's job approval was at
61% in the Nat'l Annenberg Election Survey conducted in the 4 days
after Thanksgiving last Thu. That figure is up from 56% during the 4
days before the holiday. [Uh, oh! Since these surveys typically have
an error of 3 pts, we can't say there *has* been any improvement].
Disapproval of the US Pres dropped from 41% to 36%. Bush visited
troops in Baghdad on Thanksgiving -- a move that even won praise from
political opponents. [Although journalists claimed the Whitehouse had
not only kept the move secret, but been down-right deceptive by
supplying details like an alleged Thanksgiving Day lunch the Pres and
his family were enjoying down on the ranch in Taxes].
OntZinc determined to buy Pasminco
Sydney. Canadian resources company, OntZinc has declared it is
resolute in its ambition to own embattled miner, Pasminco and has
promised to take its bidding for the company "to the limits".
Pasminco, which owns the Port Pirie lead and zinc smelter, has been in
Admin since 2001 with a debt of more than $3 bn. OntZinc made an
initial offer of $1.7 bn which was knocked back by the administrators
who hope to re-float the company publicly. OntZinc consultant Tom
Griffiths says the Canadian company will make another offer within 2
wk. "Mr Frame, who is the CEO of OntZinc, is not one to let up on a
bid like this, he will take it to the limits that he can and that will
be determined by the financiers who are supporting us, so yes we'll be
determined to try to get it within reason," he said.
Boeing faces scrutiny after Condit quits
Chicago (AP). Boeing Co is under new leadership following the sudden
resignation of Phil Condit, but the company still faces the same tough
questions about the methods it used to secure a lucrative tanker
contract from the Pentagon.
New CEO Harry Stonecipher, who was rushed back from retirement in
Florida to restore order to the embattled aerospace manufacturer, said
Mon that answering those questions -- and fixing Boeing's dented
reputation -- will be his chief objective.
At risk is the fate of the controversial $17 bn contract Boeing won
this fall to have the govt acquire 100 of its 767 jets for refuelling
tankers, as well as other contracts in its huge defence business.
"Getting the tanker program going and reassuring the govt that we are
not only compliant but an exemplary supplier is one of the first,
foremost and immediate tasks that I have," said Stonecipher, who had
retired last y. "This hiccup we've had will cause us to have to do a
lot of reassuring with the govt."
The 67-yo former president of the company was asked to return by
Boeing's board, where he has served as a director since joining Boeing
from McDonnell Douglas when the 2 companies merged in 1997.
Also, former Hewlett-Packard Co CEO Lewis Platt, who serves on
Boeing's board, was named as non-executive chairman as the company
split Condit's former duties in 2.
The legislation authorising Boeing's tanker contract with the Pentagon
was signed by Pres Bush last wk after it won approval in Congress, but
it could be delayed from being carried out if Congress calls for
additional hearings.
2 critics of the deal -- Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and
Peter Fitzgerald of Illinois -- already called last Fri for Def Sec
Donald Rumsfeld to postpone the deal in light of the recent firings of
2 Boeing executives.
Those dismissals were made Nov 24 after Boeing said it learned in an
internal inquiry that CFO Mike Sears had negotiated to hire Air Force
procurement official Darleen Druyun at a time when she was in a
position to influence military contracts involving the company.
The Pentagon's Office of the Inspector General is looking into
allegations that Druyun acted improperly in giving Boeing financial
info about a competing bid by Airbus.
Platt stressed that "nothing whatsoever" had been found implicating
Condit in the ethical issues that resulted in the firings.
But the tanker dispute isn't the only controversy to have marred
Condit's tenure.
Most recently, the Pentagon punished Boeing for stealing trade secrets
from rival Lockheed Martin to help win rocket contracts.
Boeing has been indefinitely banned from bidding on military
satellite-launching contracts, which has already cost it 7 launches
worth about $1 bn.
7 m before that, the General Accounting Office found that Boeing had
obtained and misused proprietary info from rival Raytheon as they
competed for a missile-defence contract.
Condit, 62, said he ended his 38-y career with the company to try to
prevent it from getting "bogged down" after a y of upheaval.
"In the end, I concluded that the controversies and distractions of
the past y were obscuring the great accomplishments and performance of
this company," he said on a conference call.
While the defence business has prospered, however, Condit also has
been criticised in some quarters for ceding the market-share lead in
commercial airplane manufacturing to Europe's Airbus while failing to
see a single new airplane program launched at Boeing during 7-plus y
at the helm.
The focus on defence helped cushion the blow from the aviation slump
that followed the Sep 11, 2001, attacks but leaves Boeing facing an
uncertain future in commercial jets, even if it goes ahead with the
mid-range 7E7 jet that the board is close to signing off on.
"Once the commercial airplane market recovers and some of these
controversies around the space and defence business subside, I think
the epitaph for Phil Condit will be one that is positive," said
analyst Peter Jacobs, who follows the company for Ragen MacKenzie.
"The only chink in Phil's armour is that there are a slew of
controversies about ethical behaviour that happened on his watch, and
there's really no excuse for that," Jacobs said.
Even Boeing backers in Washington are hesitant to say the company's
troubles in the tanker controversy are over.
"I hope this is the end of it," said Rep Norm Dicks, D-Wash, a senior
member of the House Appropriations Defence Subcommittee and leading
proponent of the tanker deal. "But I don't know. There are still other
investigations by the IG [inspector general] and internally by Boeing
that are under way. We'll have to wait and see how that turns out."
Wall Street observers said the naming of Stonecipher, known as a
no-nonsense executive who keeps close tabs on costs, should help
Boeing improve its battered image in Washington, where suspicions that
cronyism and insider deals are rife in the defence-contracting
business have only increased in recent ms.
As part of the reshuffling of duties, Stonecipher plans to reduce his
executive council -- those who will directly report to him -- to 12,
down from the 29 who reported to Condit.
Pentagon delays Boeing air tanker deal
Washington (AP). The Pentagon will delay plans to acquire 100 air
refuelling tankers from Boeing in light of a scandal at the aerospace
giant that has led to the dismissal of 2 executives and the
resignation of Chairman and CEO Phil Condit.
Deputy Def Sec Paul Wolfowitz said the Pentagon's internal auditor
will examine whether the conduct of the 2 executives had any negative
impact on the contract to lease 20 tankers and buy another 80.
The Air Force initially proposed leasing all 100 tankers in an attempt
to quickly update its aging fleet. Sen John McCain, R-Ariz, and other
lawmakers had criticised the proposal as wasteful and lawmakers worked
out the compromise to lease only 20 planes and buy the rest. The change
was expected to save bn from the original plan, estimated around $21 bn.
In a letter Mon to leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services
committees, Wolfowitz described the delay as "a pause." He said the
Pentagon "remains committed to the recapitalisation of our aerial
tanker fleet and is appreciative of the compromise that will allow
this arrangement to move forward."
"Nonetheless, I believe that it is prudent to reassess this matter
before proceeding," he said.
Senate Armed Services Chairman John Warner responded to Wolfowitz in a
letter Tue, calling the pause "a prudent management step."
He said the Pentagon should do nothing about the planes until the
findings of the Pentagon inspector general have been made available
for review by Congress. Warner said the inspector general should
examine the actions of all Pentagon and Air Force personnel involved
in negotiating the lease contract.
Work on development of the tanker modifications already is under way
at Boeing's Wichita, Kan, facility. Boeing-Wichita rep Dick Ziegler
said he would not characterise the Pentagon's actions as a disappointment
but called it "merely a pause" as Wolfowitz described in his letter.
"We have been given no change in direction. We are merely waiting
until the actions can be completed," Ziegler said. "We are ready,
willing and quite able to begin work."
The delay further threatens Boeing's ailing 767 jet production line in
Everett, Wash. Production of some parts for the tankers was to have
begun there in Jan.
The backlog of commercial orders to be built has shrunk to 26 jets, as
of Oct, according to Boeing. Orders have dried up since the Sep 11
terrorist attacks, as commercial airlines have struggled to stay in
business and regain profitability. The rate on the line already has
slowed to one jet every 1-and-1/2 m, workers have said.
The fear is that like production of the 757 passenger jet, which will
shut down next y, Boeing soon will have to decide the feasibility of
keeping the 767 line going -- and for how long. Boeing has already
laid off almost 40,000 people in 2 y.
The Pentagon has not said how long the inspector general's examination
will last. The Air Force said that after the review is completed,
"should there be no reason for further delay, the Air Force intends to
work expeditiously" to lease and buy the tankers.
Congressional advocates of the tanker plan stressed the urgency of
updating the tanker fleet for military reasons. Most of the planes are
more than 4 decades old.
"Further delay of the tanker program, beyond the 2 y that have already
elapsed since Congress 1st approved this plan, could result in greater
costs to taxpayers and to our defence capability," said Sen Patty
Murray, D-Wash.
A rep for House Speaker Dennis Hastert, John Feehery, said "the bottom
line is we don't have enough tankers to do the job for nat'l
security." Hastert is from Illinois, where Boeing's HQ is based, and
Boeing's commercial airplane division is HQ in Washington state.
Boeing announced Nov 24 it had fired its CFO, Mike Sears, and a vice
president, Darleen Druyun, a former Air Force official. A Boeing
investigation found that Sears approached Druyun about joining the
company while Druyun was overseeing Boeing contracts for the Air Force.
Boeing said Sears and Druyun were fired for violating company policies
on hiring and they tried to cover up the misconduct.
Condit resigned unexpectedly Mon, saying "the controversies and
distractions of the past y were obscuring the great accomplishments
and performance of this company."
On the day that Sears and Druyun were fired, Pres Bush signed a $401.3
bn defence bill that authorised the plan to lease and buy the
tankers. But pressure quickly mounted to reconsider the plan. Def Sec
Donald H. Rumsfeld said the next day that he had asked snr Pentagon
officials to examine whether it should be delayed.
Italy approves controversial media law
Rome (Reuters). The Italian parliament has passed a controversial
media bill which critics say favours PM Silvio Berlusconi's business empire.
After a drawn-out battle, the law was approved by Berlusconi's C-R
allies with a 27-vote majority in the face of fierce opp'n from
centre-left politicians as well as some newspaper editors and state
broadcaster RAI.
Govt supporters say the law breathes fresh life into the rigid media
market, allowing the largely protected Italian industry to deal with
foreign competition and setting a time frame for the roll-out of
digital TV.
Opponents say it favours private broadcaster Mediaset, top publisher
Mondadori and Italy's biggest advertising sales firm -- all controlled
by the Berlusconi family holding company Fininvest.
"From today we are all a little less free... the law worsens all the
ills of our television system with little competition, falling quality
and progressive restriction of pluralism," said Paolo Gentiloni of the
C-L opp'n Margherita party.
Mr Berlusconi, through his political office and his business interests,
has direct and indirect influence over an estimated 95% of Italian TV.
The new media law, named after Communications Min Maurizio Gasparri,
will allow the Berlusconi family holding company to buy into radio and
newspapers from 2009.
"We are satisfied but it's only a chapter in a never-ending story,"
Mediaset Chairman Fedele Confalonieri told reporters in Monte Carlo.
"Even tomorrow, the protests to the Italian president will begin."
Earlier, he said the law would give Mediaset and publisher Mondadori
access to extra revenues of 750 mn euros.
Istanbul bombings linked to OBL
Reports: Istanbul suicide attack ringleaders met with Bin Laden's
right-hand man.
Ankara (AP). 2 key suspects in last m's suicide bombings in Istanbul
met with and took instructions from Osama bin Laden's right-hand man,
newspapers reported Tue, a day after the govt made its strongest
statement linking the attackers to al-Qaeda.
Main suspects Habib Aktas and Azad Ekinci met with bin Laden's top
lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahiri, several times, Hurriyet newspaper
reported, quoting the testimony from another suspect. The 2 Turks are
suspected of planning the Nov 15 suicide bombings of 2 synagogues and
of the Brit Consulate and a Brit bank 5 days later.
"They were the only ones to meet with al-Zawahiri," Hurriyet quoted
the man, ID'ed as Yusuf Polat, as telling police during questioning.
"The instructions came from him. They would meet [with him] at least 3
times a y, using false identity documents."
Milliyet and Zaman newspapers carried similar reports. But police
would not comment on the reports, and a US counterterrorism official,
speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was no info that
al-Zawahiri had connections in Turkey. The official hadn't heard the
Turkish news reports.
Also, a court in Istanbul charged 4 more people with membership in or
aiding an illegal organisation in connection with the bombings at the
consulate and bank, the Anatolia news agency reported. The charges are
punishable by up to 5 y in prison. No trial date was set.
The court released 6 others who had been detained for questioning, the
agency said.
The news reports about al-Qaeda came a day after Deputy Prime Min
Abdullatif Sener said "those who were involved in these terrorist
attacks as suicide bombers, and those who had relations with them
... are linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist organisation."
At least 3 claims of responsibility for the bombings purportedly came
from al-Qaeda. The govt had been hesitant to name al-Qaeda and Sener's
statement was the 1st time the govt outright linked the attacks to bin
Laden's network.
The man ID-ed as Polat was captured while trying to travel into
Iran and charged over the weekend with a crime equivalent to treason
the most prominent arrest to date in the investigation. Newspapers
have said he confessed to belonging to a small al-Qaeda cell in Turkey.
Police said he surveyed the site for one of the synagogue bombings and
gave the go-ahead for the attack.
Newspapers initially ID'ed Ekinci as one of the suicide bombers,
but he is now described as one of the ringleaders.
Police believe that he, Aktas and 4 other suspected ringleaders of a
Turkish cell linked to al-Qaeda fled abroad just before the attacks,
Cumhuriyet newspaper reported.
On Sun, Syria handed over 22 suspects in the bombing at Turkey's
request. 20 of those extradited were released Tue without charges, the
Antolia news agency reported. 2 of the suspects a husband and wife
were brought to Ankara for questioning by anti-terrorism police on Tue
after a preliminary interrogated by police in the S city of Antakya,
nr Syria. Newspapers have said the 2 were connected to Ekinci.
More than 130 people have been detained in connection to the bombings
and 21 people including Polat have been charged, most with aiding or
membership in an illegal organisation.
On Mon, a Moroccan source told The Associated Press in Rabat that a
snr al-Qaeda operative suspected of ordering a deadly terrorist attack
in Casablanca earlier this y may also have been behind bombings in Turkey.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whom the CIA has described as a close associate
of bin Laden, is believed to have played a role in attacks in
Istanbul, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The US counterterrorism official, speaking anonymously, also said that
al-Zarqawi had people in Turkey, but the official could not say if
they were responsible for the bombings. The official also did not know
if al-Zarqawi played a part in the Casablanca bombings.
Al-Zarqawi was ID'ed by Moroccan authorities in Jul as the mastermind
of a wave of suicide bombings that killed 33 bystanders and 12 suicide
bombers in Casablanca in May.
photo credit and caption: A Brit police forensic team clean up the
grounds at the bombed Brit Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, Sun, Nov 30,
2003, days after an explosive-laden pickup truck rammed into the main
gate of the consulate building. Syria handed over 22 suspects to
Turkish authorities Sun in connection with 4 recent suicide bombings
in Istanbul, the semiofficial Anatolia news agency reported. The
suspects, all Turks, reportedly fled the country after the attacks.
Religious leaders press Bush on Mideast
Washington (AP). Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders announced plans
Tue to use speeches from the pulpit, church bulletins and a march on
Washington to push Pres Bush and Congress to move forward on the "road
map" plan for Middle E peace.
The 32 leaders who represent 100 mn congregants said they would try to
mobilise their constituents to press for a greater American role in
trying to solve the 56-yo, Arab-Israeli conflict.
"This is a unique opportunity, unprecedented in American history, because
we are united," said Rabbi Amy Small, president of the Reconstructionist
Rabbinical Association. "Our constituents want this leadership."
The road map, drafted by the US, the European Union, the UN and
Russia, calls for Israel and the Palestinian Authority to take a
series of steps that will culminate in 2 states -- a Jewish Israel and
an Arab Palestine.
But the Palestinian Authority has failed to stop suicide bombers who
target Israelis in discos and pizza parlours, and Israel has retaliated
by targeting terrorist leaders and building a security wall whose
planned route is in part of the W Bank.
"We believe that 100 y more of suicide bombings will not drive Israel
into the sea," said Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, founder of the American
Sufi Muslim Association. "And we believe that 100 y more of targeted
assassinations will never dry up the reservoir of young Palestinians
willing to give up their lives."
The delegation has requested a meeting with Bush. Sen Lincoln Chafee,
R-RI, and Rep Amo Houghton, R-NY, are asking their colleagues to
support the peace effort.
A call to the Whitehouse was not immediately returned Tue.
Members of the delegation plan to enlist their congregants through
messages in church bulletins, e-mails, sermons and info packets. They
also plan an interfaith "peace walk" in Washington next Apr.
The US effort follows a ceremony held Mon, when 100s of Israelis and
Palestinians joined Nobel Peace Prize winners in Geneva to celebrate
an unofficial peace accord.
The Bush Admin last wk sent Assistant Secretary of State William Burns
to the Mideast. But the religious leaders said the president needs to
be more engaged.
"Israelis and Palestinians are the ones who must create a just peace,
but the US has a moral obligation to use its powerful influence to help
them do this," said Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop of Washington.
James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, a Washington-based
research and advocacy association, said he didn't think Bush would
respond positively.
"He has been responsive to a different brand of Christian leadership
-- the right-wing fundamentalist Christian leadership who has been
more hardline on these questions than even some of the leadership in
Israel," Zogby said.
One of those religious conservative leaders, former Republican
presidential candidate Gary Bauer, said the effort was doomed to fail.
"This is the same failed approach of at least the last 20 y because
it's built on the idea that we can force a peace between Israel and
its neighbours who do not yet recognise their right to exist as a
Jewish state," said Bauer, president of American Values, an advocacy group.
And Rebecca Dinar, a rep for the nation's pre-eminent pro-Israel
lobbying group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, said
peace will come only when the Palestinians end terrorism. "The road
map makes clear that a Palestinian state will not be created by terror
but through reform," she said.
US terror suspect to get lawyer
Hamdi was originally among those taken to Guantanamo
Washington. The Pentagon has decided to allow a US-born terror
suspect access to a lawyer after refusing him counsel since he was
captured in Afghanistan in 2001.
Yaser Esam Hamdi, 22, is being held at a naval prison in S Carolina.
Pentagon officials said Mr Hamdi would be allowed a lawyer because
interrogators had finished questioning him for intel purposes.
Civil liberties groups have challenged the detention of Mr Hamdi,
deemed an "enemy combatant", as unconstitutional.
Mr Hamdi was 1st taken to the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba
after being captured among Taleban fighters during the war in
Afghanistan in Nov 2001.
He was moved to a naval prison in Charleston when it was determined
that he was a US citizen.
Although he was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Mr Hamdi moved back to
his parents' home country of Saudi Arabia when he was a child.
Initially, the Pentagon refused him access to a lawyer. He was
classified as an "enemy combatant, a designation the Bush Admin says
strips a person of the right to counsel and allows indefinite
detention without charge.
* No precedent
But now Defence Dept officials say he will be granted access to
counsel, "as a matter of discretion and military policy" and "subject
to the appropriate security restrictions".
Practical arrangements for a lawyer to visit Mr Hamdi would be
finalised over the next few days, the officials said.
A Pentagon statement said allowing Mr Hamdi access to a lawyer "is not
required by domestic or internat'l law and should not be treated as a
precedent."
The Pentagon's decision is based on the fact that he is a US citizen;
he is being held in the US; and because interrogators have finished
questioning him for intel purposes.
The US Supreme Court is considering whether to hear an appeal from a
public defender, Frank Dunham, who challenged Mr Hamdi's detention.
Mr Dunham said he welcomed the Pentagon's move but it would not affect
his arguments before the Supreme Court.
"US citizens shouldn't be held without counsel for long periods of
time," Mr Dunham told the Associated Press.
"I don't think it cures all the ills of this enemy combatant
situation, especially for US citizens."
Washington has been accused by civil rights and legal groups for
holding 100s of prisoners without charge in its declared war on terror.
As a US citizen, Mr Hamdi is not eligible for trials by military
tribunals like the foreigners being held at Guantanamo Bay.
14 arrested in anti-terrorist raids across UK
London (Press Association). 14 people were arrested today under
anti-terror laws after dawn raids on homes and businesses in 3
separate areas of England.
Officers swooped on addresses in London, Cambridge and the W Midlands
early this morning.
4 men were taken into custody following pre-dawn raids on 6 private
and 3 business premises in SW London. The men, aged between 28 and 32,
were arrested under section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
They were taken into custody at a central London police station and
searches of all the premises were expected to continue throughout the day.
In separate raids this morning in Cambridge, officers arrested 4 men
and 2 women under the same law. They also executed a search warrant
"for articles related to terrorism".
"3 men and 2 women who were at the address were arrested under section
41 of the Terrorism Act 2000 on suspicion of involvement in the commission,
preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism," said a police rep.
He confirmed that another man was arrested at a separate Cambridge
address under the same section of the act.
The arrests come 2 days after London's mayor, Ken Livingstone, claimed
police and security services had foiled 4 terrorist attacks on the
capital. Mr Livingstone gave no further details about the planned
attacks but suggested that some of the cases could come to court.
Police would not comment on whether today's arrests were connected
with the detention last Thu of terrorist suspect Sajid Badat.
Mr Badat, 24, was arrested in Gloucester on suspicion of involvement
in terrorist activities. Detectives have until tomorrow to continue
questioning him, following an application for an extension to the
arrest warrant at Bow Street magistrates court in London yesterday.
The devout Muslim was being questioned at the high-security Paddington
Green police station in W London. Gloucestershire police confirmed
yesterday that a forensic search of his home in St James Street, where
it is alleged a "relatively small amount" of explosives has been
found, was continuing.
6 men being detained by Sussex police under the same law are also
still in custody. The men, of N African origin and all in their
mid-twenties, were detained by officers investigating a "large-scale"
cheque and credit card fraud.
They were being held under section 17 of the Terrorism Act, which
relates to the arranging of funds or property for the purposes of
terrorism. Under the act, police can hold suspects without charge for
a maximum of 7 days.
US warns of terror threat in Saudi Arabia, Kenya
London/Riyadh (Reuters). Brit anti-terror police arrested 14 people
Tue as the US warned of possible attacks in Saudi Arabia and Kenya, in
actions that highlighted a persistent global threat to W interests.
In Riyadh, where suspected al Qaeda bombers killed at least 18 people
last m, the US and Brit embassies said more attacks may be planned
after authorities foiled a massive car bombing one wk ago.
US and German authorities also warned their nat'ls to stay away from
the centre of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, over the next few days in
response to "indications of a terror threat."
The warnings were made as Brit anti-terror police said they arrested 4
people in predawn raids in London, 6 people in the university city of
Cambridge and 4 nr the central English city of Birmingham.
Sources said the London arrests were linked to internat'l terrorism.
Police continued to question a suspected potential suicide bomber
arrested in the SW town of Gloucester last Thu.
Explosives were found in the house where he was apprehended.
Brit has been on its second-highest security alert for 2 wk after
intel officials said they had info an attack was planned, without
specifying any target.
* RESTRICTIONS ON MOVEMENT
In Riyadh, diplomats said the Seder Village W compound in the E of
the Saudi capital may have been the target of last wk's foiled bomb
attack in which security forces said they seized a car with more than
a ton of explosives.
Western sources said Saudi forces also found a list of 5 compounds and
video footage of Seder Village.
The US Embassy said the compound had been under "active surveillance
by terrorist elements," and that other W compounds may also be
targeted. As a result, it was stopping its American staff from
visiting compounds in Riyadh at night.
Brit's embassy in Riyadh issued a warning there was a "continuing high
threat of terrorism in Saudi Arabia" and it believed militants planned
more bombings. "The threat includes, but is not limited to,
residential compounds," it said.
Saudi Arabia has cracked down on militants since triple suicide
bombings killed 35 people in Riyadh in May, including 9 Americans.
Officials blamed those bombings and last m's attack on Saudi-born
Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, blamed for the Sep 11, 2001,
attacks on the US.
In Nairobi, where 214 people were killed in the 1998 bombing of the US
Embassy, the US advised its citizens to stay away from the city centre
in the next few days in response to an anonymous warning of a
terrorist threat against American and W interests there.
A US statement, which came before a visit by Health and Human Services
Secretary Tommy Thompson to Nairobi later this wk, said the info had
not been corroborated.
Germany's Foreign Ministry advised travellers to postpone visits to
Nairobi, saying there were "indications a terror attack was planned
against W hotels in Nairobi, and possibly other W targets."
Police said several buildings and hotels had been searched after
receiving threats but that no bombs had been found.
The US maintains a high-level threat warning on travel to Kenya and
has issued specific warnings about security threats in the past. It
believes al Qaeda was behind the embassy attack 5 y ago and the
suicide bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel nr the resort city of
Mombasa last y.
Anti-terror efforts failing to restrain al-Qaeda, UN says
NY (DPA). Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network has continued to spread,
with Iraq becoming a fertile ground for al-Qaeda supporters while
anti-terror responses have been weak, a group charged with monitoring
the implementation of UN sanctions against terrorist organisations
said Mon.
While the group cited some progress in freezing assets of and banning
travel by members of al-Qaeda and the former militants in Afghanistan,
the Taliban, it said govts failed to cooperate in providing info
regarding those members.
"Without a tougher and more comprehensive resolution -- a resolution
which obligates states to take mandated measures -- the role played by
the UN in this important battle risks becoming marginalised," the
group said in a report. The group, known as the "Committee on
Sanction on al-Qaeda, the Taliban and their associates," was created
by the UN Sec Council in the wake of the Sep 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks against the US.
The council ordered a freeze of assets and a travel ban on al-Qaeda
and Taliban members. The monitoring group has listed 371 names and
organisations belonging to al-Qaeda and the Taliban and has demanded
govts provide info on 272 individuals for the purposes of asset
freezing and travel ban. But it said govts have been reluctant to meet
the request.
It said Iraq has become "readily accessible to followers of al-Qaeda."
"With such large numbers of foreign and non-Muslim troops involved [in
Iraq], it is proving an ideal 'battleground' for followers of Osama
bin Laden's inspired 'World Islamic Front for Jihad against the Jews
and Crusaders,'" the report said, referring to the US-led coalition
force in Iraq.
The monitoring group tried to visit several Middle Eastern countries
in Sep to write the report. But Saudi Arabia denied entry to the
group. In Kuwait, the group sought info about the al-Qaeda-related
Wafa Humanitarian Organisation, but was told that the organisation did
not exist.
Yemen failed to provide names of those detained in the attack against
the USS Cole in 2000. In Egypt, the group was told that Cairo had not
received a UN letter requesting info on individuals on the list of
al-Qaeda suspects.
The report said it received little cooperation in Jordan, Syria and Morocco.
It said govts in some countries were not aware of UN resolutions
demanding info and cooperation in fighting global terrorism.
Al-Qaeda was suspected of maintaining assets in 83 countries, but only
21 countries have reported freezing those assets. The total assets
frozen amounted to US$75 mn with the US accounting for US$70 mn.
Govts have been asked to provide info on asset freezing, but the
report said they have been vague on the mechanism and structures put
in place to ID and investigate banking institutions that may
harbour those assets.
The UN arms embargo on al-Qaeda and the Taliban has not been fully
carried out, either. The report said, "States' description of the
[embargo] measures ... are more telling from the info they do not
provide than from what they do provide."
Police in Brit arrest 14 in anti-terrorist sweep
London (AFP). Brit has intensified a round-up of terror suspects,
arresting 14 people during raids in London, Cambridge and the West
Midlands as PM Tony Blair called on the public to be "vigilant".
4 men were taken into custody under the Terrorism Act during pre-dawn
raids in SW London, while 6 other people were detained in the
university city of Cambridge, in the E of England.
All faced questioning under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act, which
refers to "suspicion of involvement in the commission, preparation or
instigation of acts of terrorism", the Metropolitan Police said.
In the W Midlands, police said they had arrested 4 men in the towns
of Dudley and Walsall, also under the Terrorism Act.
All 14 arrests came as police faced a Wed deadline to charge a 24-yo
man arrested last Thu for what Home Secretary David Blunkett called
suspected links with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda organisation.
Mr Blair, at his monthly Downing Street press conference, called upon
the nation to "remain vigilant".
"People in Brit, because of experiences in the past, know that we
should remain vigilant but calm in the face of terrorism and
determined to defeat it," the PM said.
"I think that is the general attitude of most people. Our security
services, our intel services, our police do a magnificent job in
protecting us -- but of course we've got to remain vigilant."
Brit has been on its second-highest state of alert against a feared
attack since the weekend before US Pres George W Bush's state visit to
London in Nov and the suicide bombings of the Brit consulate and HSBC
bank in Istanbul.
No specific target has been ID'ed publicly, but speculation is
rife that al-Qaeda militants or others might try to stage an attack
during the run-up to Christmas.
Police drew no link between any of Tue's arrests, or with the arrest
last Thu of Sajid Badat, 24, who remained in custody at a police
station in W London.
A small quantity of explosives were reportedly found during house
searches in Gloucester, W England, after Mr Badat's arrest.
But police refuse to comment on press speculation that Mr Badat might
have had links with "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, another Briton who is
serving a life sentence in the US for trying to blow up a US airliner
over the N Atlantic with explosives hidden in his sports shoes in late 2001.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner John Stevens, Brit's most senior
police officer, told BBC News that Tue's raids and arrests were part
of "ongoing operation".
"We are arresting people continuously," Commissioner Stevens said.
The latest arrests came after London Mayor Ken Livingstone told a
weekend conference that police and security services had foiled four
plots "to actually cause mayhem and take life in this city".
Meanwhile in SE England, 6 men were still being detained by Sussex
Police under the Terrorism Act.
One of them, Noureddinne Mouleff, 36, a resident of the town of
Eastbourne, was charged with being in possession of articles or items
in connection with an act of terrorism.
Mr Mouleff was also charged with conspiring with others to defraud
clearing banks, a Sussex Police rep said.
Mr Mouleff was due to appear before Bow Street Magistrates Court in
central London on Wed.
He was one of 6 people arrested last Tue, Thu and Fri under a section
of the Terrorism Act that relates to the arranging of funds or property
for the purposes of terrorism.
The others are in their 20s and, like Mr Mouleff, said to be of north
African origin.
Assistant Chief Constable of Sussex Nigel Yeo said: "At this stage
there is no connection with the arrests that have been made under the
Terrorism Act elsewhere in the country."
4 men arrested over alleged al-Qaeda links
Riviera (ABC TV). French authorities have arrested 4 men at a Riviera
resort on suspicion of having aided a member of the al-Qaeda network.
Police sources say 2 of the suspects are Algerians and one is French,
while the nat'lity of the 4th is not immediately known. The 4 have
been arrested in the SE Mediterranean town of Menton. They are
suspected of providing shelter to a man who belonged to an al-Qaeda
cell believed to have been under the control of Osama bin Laden's son
and who was preparing to return to Afghanistan. The man's identity
has not been revealed.
US forces stage massive raid in Iraq
Baghdad (AP). US troops N of the capital arrested at least 20
insurgents in a raid while workers began demolishing gigantic bronze
busts of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad on Tue -- both moves aimed at
stamping out loyalty to Iraq's ousted regime.
Iraqi police said a snr former member of Saddam's elite Republican
Guard was among those captured in Hawija, 250 km N of Baghdad.
However, the US troops failed to catch the target of the raid -- Izzat
Ibrahim al-Douri, considered a key planner of attacks against US troops.
Also in the north, insurgents kept up attacks against American-led
forces, with a soldier of the 4ID killed in a roadside explosion in
Samarra, the scene of deadly weekend battles between Americans and Iraqis.
Meanwhile, relatives of US troops visiting Iraq pressed their agenda
to meet with leaders of the occupation authority, hoping to voice
their opp'n to the US-led occupation.
One mother held back tears while looking at US soldiers guarding the
entrance of the Habbaniyah military base in Baghdad.
"They are so young. This is not for them. ... They look just like my
boy," said Annabelle Valencia, whose daughter, 24, and son, 22, are
both based in Iraq.
Elsewhere in the capital, workers using a construction crane started
dismantling the 13-foot busts of Saddam from his former Republican
Palace, now the HQ of the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority.
It was unclear how long the work would take.
Lt Col William MacDonald, rep for the 4ID, said the raids in Hawija
were aimed at capturing former regime members financing guerrilla
attacks in the region.
Iraqi police said US troops had captured more than 100 people,
including a snr former member of Saddam's elite Republican Guard.
6 Iraqis were wounded in the raid, but it wasn't immediately clear if
they were all insurgents.
The US Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade detained 20 suspected insurgents,
but not al-Douri, the top Iraqi fugitive after Saddam.
Earlier, a member of the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council had said
al-Douri had been caught.
"We have no reports that we have captured or killed al-Douri," MacDonald said.
MacDonald said the confusion stemmed from local officials' statements
that linked the raids to the hunt for al-Douri.
"The key objective was to get the subversive groups that have been
conducting anti-coalition activities," he said. "I can't say we are on
the trail of al-Douri."
US officials, who 2 wk ago posted a $10 mn bounty for al-Douri, have
pointed to him as a coordinator of incessant attacks on American
forces in Iraq. They suspect he could also be working with the
al-Qaeda-linked militant group Ansar al-Islam.
The 10 members of the delegation of troops' relatives, who arrived in Iraq
this wk, said they want to see the reality faced by both US troops and Iraqis.
The group, sponsored by US-based non-govt'al organisations that oppose
the occupation, includes 2 wives of soldiers based at Fort Bragg, N
Carolina, and 4 veterans of the Vietnam and Gulf wars -- 2 of them
with children on duty in Iraq.
Fernando Suarez del Solar, 48, who heads the delegation, said being in
Iraq made him feel "closer" to his son, who was killed earlier this y.
Marine Lance Cpl Jesus Suarez del Solar, 20, died in March during the
invasion of Iraq when he stepped on an unexploded cluster bomb or a land mine.
During their week-long visit, the delegates hope to meet representatives
of the US-picked Iraqi Governing Council, human rights organisations,
and women's organisations, Suarez said.
They will also visit hospitals, schools, and US military bases, part of the
trip sponsored by Global Exchange and the Internat'l Occupation Watch Centre.
"Other people have warned us that it is not safe to travel to Iraq,
but we wanted to show that ordinary Americans like peace," Suarez said.
Michael Lopercio, who has a son serving with the 82nd Airborne
Division in the restive city of Fallujah said he was "concerned about
if we were making the right kind of progress" in Iraq.
"Iraqis are grateful Saddam has been ousted, but they say their lives
are much worse than before -- with no jobs and no medicine in
hospitals," Lopercio said.
Unforeseen hurdles define Iraq rebuilding
Gains slowed by disrepair and looters
C Iraq (NY Times). In the pounding heat last Aug, nr ancient Babylon,
a group of American and Iraqi engineers and local workers gathered to
flip the switch on a refurbished irrigation system for 81,000 hectares
of land that had become parched during ys of neglect under Saddam
Hussein's rule. All seemed ready, but the Iraqis refused to try the
switch before improving their luck.
A local man strode forward with a pair of sheep. He deftly slit their
throats with a knife and spurted blood on the ground before hanging
the dead animals next to a power generator.
The engineers flipped the switch, the system worked and the Iraqis
served soft drinks and store-bought cookies.
As the shadow of violence lengthens across the desert landscape of
Iraq, reconstruction quietly continues. For some, the pace has been
too slow. For others, success is more rightly measured in small moments.
What is certain is that when the US begins spending the roughly $13 bn
earmarked last m for the organs of Iraq's vitality -- water and sewage
treatment, transportation, electricity and communications networks,
oil production -- it will have to use the past 6 m as a vast how-to
manual. It remains an ad-hoc guide governed by the bald, decrepit and
sometimes dangerous realities on the ground. The rebuilding effort
began almost as soon as hostilities did. Military engineers were
deployed a few days after the war began at the port of Umm Qasr,
adjacent to Kuwait in SE Iraq, said Rear Admiral Charles Kubic, who
commanded about 5,000 engineers in the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force
Engineer Group, many who later worked on the irrigation system nr
Babylon. By late Apr, as hostilities wound down, dredging of the
silt-choked port had started to accommodate enormous grain ships for
humanitarian aid.
As a bevy of military, govt'al and independent organisations scattered
across the country repairing schools, opening police stations and
planning repairs to local utilities, the effort had a decidedly
improvised feel. The banking system had collapsed, and there was no
easy way to pay Iraqi workers and contractors, who were already doing
much of the actual labour.
The Army Corps of Engineers, which was also active on the ground and
would eventually pour some $1.4 bn into the infrastructure program --
not including 100s of $mns spent on fixing oil refineries and
pipelines -- took a page from its experience in responding to
disasters like hurricanes and floods in the US, said Maj Gen
Carl Strock, director of civil works for the Army Corps. Engineers
scattered with their own bags of cash and orders to fix problems as
they found them. The rebuilding program quickly turned out to be more
costly, more complicated and slower than initially expected, in part
because of infrastructure problems that predate the war. The Bush
Admin's reports of successes have proved difficult to verify and
measure, largely because, with so many companies and agencies acting
semi-autonomously, there has been no centralised way to track
accomplishments. And internat'l criticism of what is perceived as the
plodding pace of reconstruction has led to frustration inside Iraq. An
initial $160 mn effort to repair Iraq's almost completely
dysfunctional sewage plants and water systems is still several m from
having an impact on ordinary Iraqis, said Tom Wheelock, director of
Iraq infrastructure programs for the US Agency for Internat'l
Development.
The 1st replacements for a dozen telephone switching stations in
Baghdad, which were reduced to rubble by coalition forces, should
begin working in Jan, he said, with all expected to be ready by the
end of March. The linchpin of the entire effort -- the electrical
power grid -- is roughly up to its peak prewar output but is subject
to cutoffs because of looting, sabotage and its general rickety
state. In many cases, no amount of inspired tinkering had a chance. By
Aug, some 635 towers carrying major lines in Iraq's power distribution
grid had been sabotaged, looted or otherwise damaged. In most cases,
the steel of the towers and the copper wire running between them had
simply disappeared. The computerised systems that matched electrical
loads to supplies -- crucial for preventing catastrophic overloads --
had been stripped clean from nearly all the control centres, and
managers were communicating with overland couriers.
"It's like Pony Express," said Cliff Mumm, the project manager in Iraq
for Bechtel, which has a $1.03 bn contract with Agency for Internat'l
Development to repair power, water, telecommunications and other
systems in Iraq.
Contractors and military officials began shipping in the chemicals needed
to produce the purified water to run boilers at the large power plants.
US officials also began installing electricity generators at some of
the large power plants and important users, like hospitals, clinics
and refineries. As repairs of the power plants themselves geared up,
engineers with the Army Corps, Bechtel and the Iraqi Electricity
Ministry also began working on a dual system of transmission lines
that travels from plants in the S toward power-hungry Baghdad. One
electrical path runs up the eastern edge of the fertile crescent, one
to the west. More than 100 towers on each path had been stripped, and
so far only a line with a modest capacity on the W side is operating,
Wheelock said.
Still, the country is now producing nearly as much power as the 4,400
MW it did during peak summer demand before the war, according
to Agency for Internat'l Development figures.
Perhaps the most monumental task of all will be repairing sewage
treatment and water purification facilities. In Baghdad, some 750 mn
litres, about 200 mn gallons, of untreated wastewater a day were
simply shunted into the Tigris, said John Kluesener, another Bechtel
project manager.
That unsanitary load flows S and is tapped by an artificial waterway
that is the source of drinking water for the city of Basra. To improve
that state of affairs, the Baghdad plants are being refurbished; the
reservoirs fed by the canal are being dredged; and the sprawling water
purification system in Basra inspected and repaired.
Wheelock said he hoped that by summer, Iraqis would see these projects
lifting their sanitary standards far beyond what they experienced
under Saddam.
US fails to nab Saddam's deputy
Aide captured
Kirkuk (The News, Pak). US troops detained the private secretary of
Saddam Hussein's fugitive number 2, Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, during a
massive sweep in the Iraqi town of Hawijah on Tue, police chief Awad
al-Obeidi told AFP.
"Saad Mohammed al-Duri was arrested in a house in the Hawijah area,
where he was hiding," Obeidi told AFP in Iraq's N oil capital by
telephone. Kirkuk's police chief, General Turhan Yusef, said $40,000
was found in the man's possession, which was "suspected of being used
to finance attacks on the US-led coalition.
Across north-central Iraq, more than 100 people were arrested in what
the police general described as a "one-off operation aimed at find
Izzat Ibrahim based on specific intel."
6 Iraqis were wounded as several villages put up resistance to the
massive cordon and search sweep. Yusef said the blockade around
Hawijah, a town of some 80,000 people, was finally lifted at 9.45 pm,
more than 16 hr after it was imposed.
An official of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the dominant Kurdish
faction in Kirkuk, said a former general in the disbanded Iraqi army
was also arrested in the raids, along with Hamid Saad, a snr official of
Saddam's former ruling Baath party in charge of youth and student affairs.
The official, Jalal Jawrar, said an arms cache and attack plans were
found in the general's home. Other detainees included former member of
the ultra-loyalist Saddam Fedayeen militia and middle-ranking army officers.
US troops that encircled the town of Hawijah for more than 12 hr
but failed to find the Izzat Ibrahim, a US rep said. "Al-Duri was not
captured in this raid," Maj Doug Vincent, rep for the 173rd Airborne
Division, which mounted the huge search operation, told reporters who
accompanied the 1,200 troops involved. The principal target of the
search in this town was someone who had a "close relation with
al-Duri," another US officer told reporters.
The division's cmdr, Col William Neville, told AFP the operation was
still ongoing as of 7.20 pm and that all roads in or out remained
closed to Iraqis. A total of 27 people were arrested and 7 RPGs, 56
Kalashnikovs and several improvised explosive devices of the sort
favoured by anti-US insurgents seized, the colonel said.
Resident Marwan Muhammad Hawijah said that at 5.00 am 2 helicopters
and 2 planes had flown overhead during the operation. He said he had
heard several rounds of gunfire and also several blasts, but added
that they might have been percussion bombs.
Elsewhere, at least one US soldier was killed on Tue when 2 simultaneous
bomb attacks hit convoys nr the town of Samarra, scene of deadly
clashes between troops and insurgents 2 days ago, a US officer told AFP.
"There was one soldier killed," said the clearly distressed officer,
who declined to give his name or elaborate. Reporters said the convoy
was escorting a truck carrying a damaged Apache helicopter from
Samarra, S to Baghdad. The aircraft had a large hole in its rear but
it was unclear whether it was caused by an accident or enemy action.
Witness Kanaan Kanel Kanaani told reporters the last vehicle in the
dozen-strong convoy, a Humvee, was hit by a RPG or a mine. "The driver
lost control and the vehicle veered across the road, crashing into a
parked pickup loaded with oranges," said Kanaani. "One soldier was killed."
Arafat Enab, 21, said it was an improvised explosive device of the
sort favoured by anti-US insurgents that hit the Humvee. "Half of the
vehicle was destroyed and the driver received fatal head injuries,"
said Enab. An AFP correspondent on the scene saw a military air rescue
helicopter land on the scene. The other explosion happened at about
11.30 am, said Adel Ali Mohammed, who was blocking the road after the
blast. "I saw white smoke and the convoy halted."
Reporters saw a US military helicopter ambulance land at the scene, nr
the village of Iskhaki, S of Samarra, and then take off again.
A bearded Saddam snapped driving a Toyota pick-up
London (DPA). A former photographer for Saddam Hussein told an Arab
newspaper he last saw the former leader in Iraq in Apr, wearing a
beard and driving a Japanese car.
The ousted leader constantly changed his bodyguards to guarantee they
would not be lured by the $US25 mn reward placed on his head by US
occupiers, Faisal al-Obeidi said in remarks published yesterday.
Mr al-Obeidi had worked as one of Saddam's private photographers since 1985.
Speaking to the London-based al-Sharq al-Awsat, Mr al-Obeidi said the
last time he saw the former president was in the town of Howeija nr
the northern city of Kirkuk 2 wk after the fall of Baghdad.
He said one of his cousins had invited him to dinner.
"When I got there, I was surprised to see the president there. He was
in good health and good spirits and had grown his beard. He was
wearing the traditional Arab garb and driving a small Toyota pick-up
truck," Mr al-Obeidi said.
The former photographer said Saddam told him and his family during
that dinner that he was returning to power and "asked us to swear we
would not give any info that helps the enemies arrest him".
Mr al-Obeidi said he would never report on Saddam's whereabouts if he
had info.
"I would not report him even if it costs me my life. He gave us money
and security and stability. We are from tribal families and never
betray those who have entrusted us," he said.
He added that it would be difficult for the coalition forces to find
Saddam as he changed his 2 or 3 escorts constantly for fear of
betrayal and was always on the move.
"The president did not forget who helped him and has sent us money so
that we can continue to live normally," he said.
=== end 1/4 ===